The higher they went, the deeper the water became that overflowed the ledge. The river roared more loudly, too. Ranni puzzled over it and then suddenly realized the reason.
“It is the terrific rainstorm that has caused the river to swell!” he called back, his voice rising over the roar of the water. “The rain has soaked deep into the mountain, and has made its way to the river. You know what a rainstorm we had yesterday — it seemed as if whole seas of water had been emptied down on the earth. The river is swelling rapidly. I hope it doesn’t swell much more, or we shall find it impossible to get along.”
This was a very frightening thought. It would be dreadful to be trapped in the mountain tunnel, with the rushing river rising higher and higher. The three boys put their best feet forward and went as quickly as they could.
When nearly two hours had gone by, they began to hope they were nearing the waterfall cave. The river by now had risen above their knees and it was difficult to stagger along, because the water pulled against them the whole time. Ranni and Pilescu began to feel very anxious.
But, quite suddenly, they heard the sound of the waterfall that fell down into the big cave! It could only be the waterfall they heard, for the noise was so tremendous. “We are nearly there!” yelled Ranni.
“Look out for the robbers!” shouted back Jack.
They rounded the last bit of the ledge, and, by the light of Ranni’s torch, saw that at last they were in the big cave, from which led the passage that would take them to the cave below the temple. They all felt very thankful indeed.
There was no sign of the robbers. The five of them went cautiously into the cave and looked round. By the light of Ranni’s torch the waterfall seemed to be much bigger than they had remembered. It fell from a great hole in the roof of the cave, and then ran down the channel to the tunnel, where it disappeared.
“It is greater now,” said Ranni. “It must be much swollen by all the rain that fell yesterday. It already fills the hole through which it falls.”
“What will happen if the hole can’t take all the extra water?” asked Jack, curiously.
“I don’t know,” said Ranni. “Now, what shall we do next? Where are those robbers? Are they lying in wait for us somewhere? Are they up in the cave below the temple — or have they gone out on the mountain-side to rob again?”
“Well there’s nothing for it but to go and see,” said Pilescu. You boys stay down here, whilst Ranni and I go through the passage to the other cave.”
“No — we’ll go with you,” said Paul, at once.
“That would be foolish,” said Pilescu. “There is no need for all of us to put ourselves in danger. You will stay here until I or Ranni come back to tell you that it is safe for us all to go back down the mountain-side to the castle.”
The boys watched the two big Baronians disappear into the narrow passage at the end of the cave opposite the great waterfall. It was difficult to stay behind and wait in patience. They sat in a corner and watched the tremendous fall of water at the other end of the cave.
“It’s roaring as if it was angry!” said Jack. “I don’t believe that hole is big enough now for all the volume of water to pour through. It will burst it bigger. I’m sure of it!”
“Well, the hole’s made through the solid rock,” said Mike. “It will have to burst the rock!”
Even as they spoke, a frightening thing happened. The water falling from the roof seemed suddenly to become bigger in volume and noise — and the boys saw a great mass of rock fall slowly from the roof! As Jack had said, the hole was no longer big enough to take the rush of water, and the force of its rush had burst away part of the solid, rocky roof!
Water at once flowed over the floor of the cave, almost to the feet of the astonished boys. They leapt up at once, staring at the water falling from the roof at the other end of the cave.
“I say! I hope the whole roof doesn’t give way!” said Jack. “There must be a terrific rush of water to burst through the rock like that.”
Nothing more happened, except that the extra volume of water made more noise and flooded the floor of the cave almost up to where the boys stood.
“Well, anyway, we’re safe,” said Mike. “We are just at the opening of the passage that leads upwards to the other cave. The water comes from the other direction. If it gets deep in here we’ll have to go up the passage, that’s all, away from it.”
It got no deeper, however, so the boys waited patiently. Twenty miriutes went by, and there was no sign of the return of Ranni or Pilescu. Mike began to feel worried.
“I wish they’d come back,” he said. “I feel as if I can’t stay here doing nothing much longer!”
“Whatever are Ranni and Pilescu doing?” said Jack, impatiently. “They must be right out on the mountainside by now!”
“Let’s go up the passage and find out,” said Paul, at last. “I simply can’t sit here any longer.”
“All right,” said Mike. “Come on. We can easily rush back if we hear Ranni and Pilescu coming.”
They made their way up the narrow, curving passage, leaving behind them the noise of the great waterfall. But before they were half-way up, they heard the sound of someone else coming down!
“That must be Ranni and Pilescu coming back!” said Mike, in a low voice. “Come on — we’ll get back. We don’t want to get into trouble for not waiting, as we were told.’
They stumbled back down the rocky passage, and came out once more into the cave of the waterfall. It was still falling at the other end, with a mightier roar than ever.
“Here they come!” said Mike, as a light shone out of the passage. He flashed his own torch upwards to welcome Ranni and Pilescu.
And then he and the other two boys stared in horror. Certainly it was Ranni and Pilescu returning — but returning as prisoners! Once again they were captives, angry, but completely helpless! Six or seven robbers were behind them, kicking them and pushing them, holding sharp-pointed knives behind their backs to urge them on.
“Ranni! What’s happened?” cried Paul, springing forward.
But before anything could be explained, the robbers, with cries of satisfaction, leapt at the three boys and forced their arms behind them. Mike tried his hardest to get out his scout-knife but it was impossible!
The robbers bound the boys’ arms and legs together with thongs of supple leather. No matter how they struggled, they could not free themselves. They were placed on the floor of the cave, like trussed chickens. Rani and Pilescu stood roaring like angry bulls, trying to free their own hands, which had been tightly tied behind them as before. The robbers tripped them defly to the ground and tied their legs together, too.
Small as they were, the Secret Forest robbers were very strong. Ranni and Pilescu were big giants of men, but the robbers swarmed over them like ants, and by their very smallness and deftness they overcame the two big men.
The robbers chattered together exultantly. Now they had all five prisoners to take back. But suddenly one of them pointed to the water that flowed over the floor of the cave.
They all looked at it in surprise. Clearly they had never seen water flowing over the floor of the cave before. They looked at the water falling from the now bigger hole in the roof of the cave, at the other end. They saw what had happened, and ran fearfully to the ledge that ran beside the roaring river.
The water was now above their knees. They had left their raft behind them, below the platform-ledge. They gazed in panic at the water. They could not hear themselves speak, so near the waterfall, and ran back to where the five prisoners were, shouting to one another in terror.
The noise of the water grew louder. Everyone gazed fearfully at the hole through which it poured from the roof. And then more of the rocky roof gave way and fell to the floor of the cave with a crash. Water followed it at once, forcing its way out, pouring down into the cave with a noise like thunder.
The robbers gave a scream of terror. They knew that never would they be able to get back to the Secret Forest if they did not go at once, for now that more and more water was pouring down, the river in the mountain tunnel would rise so high that no one would be able to walk beside it on the rocky ledge.
They disappeared in the spray. Jack raised his head and saw them dimly in the distance, trying to force their way on to the ledge beside the river where it entered the tunnel. It was above their waists!
“They’ll all be drowned,” said Jack. “The water will sweep them off the ledge. It’s getting deeper and deeper.”
“Don’t worry about the robbers!” said Ranni, sitting up with a jerk. “It’s ourselves we must worry about! Look at the water — it’s right up to us now!”
So it was. It lapped round them. The five captives managed to get themselves upright, though it was difficult, with both hands and feet tied. They struggled with their bonds, but the robbers were too clever at knots for them to be undone or broken.
“We’d better try to get up the passage,” said Ranni, trying to hop towards it with his tied-up legs. But he fell at once. He cracked his head against a rock, for he could not save himself with his hands. He lay quite still, and Paul looked at him in terror.
“He’s just knocked out for a minute or two, that’s all,” said Pilescu, comfortingly. But really, the big Baronian was as frightened now as little Paul. They were all in a terrible plight. At any moment more of the roof might fall in and the cave would be completely flooded with water. They could not help themselves to escape because they were so tightly bound.
“Ranni! Open your eyes!” begged Paul. One of the robbers had left a torch shining on a ledge nearby, and its light shone on to Ranni’s face as he lay with his eyes shut, half-leaning against the rocky wall. “Pilescu! How did you get caught like this?”
“We went up into the cave below the temple,” said Pilescu. “We found the statue was divided into half, and we climbed up. We could not see a robber anywhere. We went to the mouth of the cave and looked out. We could see nothing at all, because there is a thick mist on the mountain-side this morning. We went back into the cave to return to you, when into the cave rushed all the robbers and flung themselves on us. They must have seen us standing at the entrance. They were waiting for us there! We could not see them in the mist.
“Oh, Pilescu — just as we had got to the end of our journey!” cried Prince Paul. “What are we going to do now? Is Ranni badly hurt? He hit his head so hard on the rock!”
Ranni opened his eyes at that moment and groaned. His head ached badly. He tried to sit upright, and then remembered everything with a rush.
“More of the roof is falling!” cried Jack. He was right. With another tremendous roar a great mass of rock again fell down at the other end of the cave, and a still greater volume of water poured out. It was now all round their legs. The five captives struggled to get up on ledges out of the way of it.
“It is rising higher now,” said Mike, watching the water swirling in the cave. The bright light of the torch glittered on the blackness of the icy-cold water. It looked very threatening.
“Pilescu, what are we going to do?” said Jack, desperately. “We shall all be drowned soon if we don’t do something! Oh, why didn’t someone come after us — some of the servants, or villagers. Beowald said he would fetch some!”
Beowald, of course, had fetched the villagers, and they had gone down as far as the cave of the waterfall. But they had not been able to guess that the way the boys had gone was along the narrow, rocky ledge beside the rushing river. They had left the cave and gone back to the mountain-side, telling Beowald that he must be mistaken. No one had gone down into those caves below! The robbers and their prisoners must be somewhere on the mountain-side!
They had searched the mountains well, hallooing and shouting for hours. When the thick mist had come up, they had had to leave their search, for, good mountaineers as they were, they could lose themselves in the mist as easily as any child.
Beowald alone had not stopped searching. The mist did not hinder him, for neither darkness nor mists made any difference to him. He wandered about all night long, looking for his friends, the big mountain goat keeping him company.
When the sun was high in the sky Beowald made his way back to the temple-cave. He listened outside. There was no sound. He went to the big stone image at the back. It was still split in half. Beowald stood thinking. Should he go down himself, and seek for the others? The villagers had already said there was nothing below but empty caves, with rushing water in one. Beowald would be lost in a strange place. But something made him decide to try.
The blind goatherd slipped down into the hole, hanging deftly on to the rope. Down he went, and down, and came at last to the little cave below. He explored it carefully with his hands stretched out in front of him, going round the rocky, irregular walls.
He soon found the opening that led into the narrow, rocky passage. He went down it, feeling before him and beside him with his hands. Down and down went the passage, curving as it descended.
Beowald came out into the cave of the waterfall, and stood there, deafened by the roar. Water swirled over his feet. At first he was so deafened by the terrific noise that he heard nothing more.
And then, to his extreme astonishment, he heard his name called.
“Beowald! Beowald!”
“Look — it’s Beowald! Beowald, help us, quickly!”
Beowald the goatherd stood at the entrance of the waterfall cave, his blind eyes seeing nothing, his ears hearing voices he could hardly believe in!
But even more astonished were the five captives! Beowald had appeared before them, like a wizard, just as they had given up all hope of being saved!